Author: Kalantarian Kevo

Volunteers from the United States Embassy in Armenia joined the Fuller Center for Housing Armenia (FCHA) to build a home for the Aloyan family from SisavanVillage in the Ararat Region

The partnership between the U.S. Embassy and the Fuller Center for Housing Armenia started in 2008.Every year, the U.S. Embassy’s “Helping Hands” volunteer organization joins forces with FCHA to create an event where Embassy staff and family member can help build a home for an Armenian family living in inadequate housing conditions. This year, U.S. Embassy personnel joined the Aloyans to help with painting and concreting projects for their new home.

The Aloyans are a family of eleven. Sargis and his wife, Anie – together with their 2 children – live with Sargis’ parents and his brother’s family, making for eleven people in a three-room house. The extended family started building a house for Sargis and his family four years ago.

“Perhaps it is the cherished dream of everyone to have a home. As a father of two I was always downhearted that I could not provide my little ones with a decent home. It is impossible to explain the happiness we feel each day when we see the progress on the construction of our house and feel that soon, very soon, we will move to our new home,” shared Sargis.

“Back in the spring of 2016, this house had only walls and a ceiling. Today, construction is nearly complete and we are already painting the walls. The U.S. Embassy has joined us in our mission since 2008. And it is thanks to the strong conviction and dedication of our partners, volunteers, and supporters that the Aloyans and many other Armenian families enjoy the happiness of homeownership,” stated FCHA President Ashot Yeghiazaryan.

In 2009, the United States Congress designated September 11 as a National Day of Service and Remembrance to commemorate the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in New York City.  In 2016, as the American people mark the 15th anniversary of those senseless acts of destruction, the U.S. Embassy was honored to partner with FCHA to give the Aloyans renewed hope as they prepare to move into their new home and begin to construct a new, brighter future.

A car has exploded after ramming the gates of the Chinese embassy in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, with at least one person killed, reports say.

Kyrgyz security officials quoted by the local AKIpress news agency described the blast as a terrorist attack.

The news agency also quoted the chief of security at the Chinese embassy as saying that no staff there had been injured.

The Russian TASS news agency says one person was killed, two were wounded.

Local reports say that the person killed was the driver of the car.

Kyrgyz security officials are at the scene conducting an investigation.

Massis Post – In a directive issued to all Eastern Diocesan churches Primate Archbishop Khajag Barsamian has asked all parishes to assist in fundraising drives aimed at assisting Armenian community members affected by the devastating flooding in Louisiana earlier this month.

Vasken Kaltakjian, the parish council chair of St. Garabed Armenian Church in Baton Rouge, has reported that three Armenian families were forced to flee their homes, and one community memeber lost his business in the wake of the severe flooding that caused widespread damage and loss in the State capital.

According to Mr Kaltakjian, one family experienced minor damage to their property and has already returned to their home. They are expecting to begin renovations soon.

One family’s house was completely submerged in water. Everything in the house remains unsalvageable, including such basic items as clothing and other personal belongings.

A third family was forced to evacuate their home and will not be able to return for at least six weeks. The first floor of their house was completely flooded, and they lost all furniture, appliances, and other items on the first floor to water damage.

The fourth family experienced damage at their place of business, where two parking lots were flooded and 82 cars were destroyed. In addition, the family owned two rental houses and a fishing camp, all of which were submerged in water.

Two of these families did not have flood insurance as their properties were not located in a flood zone, Mr. Kaltakjian said. Those forced to evacuate their homes are now staying with friends and relatives in the area.

The parish council of St. Garabed Church has been in touch with these Armenian familys to provide emergency assistance. Their goal is to provide short-term relief while the families await aid from insurance companies and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Summer 2016 marked another successful campaign for the Land and Culture Organization (LCO)/Organisation Terre et Culture (OTC).  After three summer campaigns of volunteers, and four years of historical archaeologists, local workers and artisans, LCO/OTC celebrated the completion and consecration of the its fifth historical restoration project 16th century Sourp Stepanos Nakhavegah (St. Stephen the Protomartyr) church in the village of Shikaghogh.  Shikahogh is located in the southern Syunik region, adjacent to the Shikahogh Forest Reserve 20 miles south of Kapan.   Being near the Armenian-Artsakh border, the Azeris shelled Shikahogh during the Karabagh conflict.  Now, they are hoping to develop ecotourism in the Shikahogh State Reserve area.

Sourp Stepanos was blessed on August 6nd by Holy Etchmiadzin Bishop Hovannes Hakopyan and clergy of the Syunik Diocese.  Present at the consecration ceremonies were Kegham Kevonian President of UIOTC (Union of Land and Culture International), Haig and Hilda Manjikian and Nazaret Kevonian of LCO-USA, project architect Stepan Nalbandian of LCO/OTC Armenia “Yergeer Yev Meshagiut”, along with LCO/OTC volunteers and members.  Over two hundred members of the Shikahogh community, neighboring villagers, and mayors from surrounding villages and attended the ceremonies.  It was an emotional moment for all present following the culmination of years of hard work by volunteers and local craftsmen.   Some community elders remember being baptized at Sourp Stepanos. 

Throughout the project’s duration, 60 volunteers from the diaspora lived in Shikahogh and worked on Sourp Stepanos.  Volunteers participated in every aspect of the project from archaeologic digs, clearing the exterior and interior of the church, fixing the roof, rebuilding the altar and more.  Since 1989, LCO/OTC has worked on 20 projects including renovation of community centers, schools, construction of solar dryers, and historical church restoration in Armenia and Artsakh.  

In addition to the completion of Sourp Stepanos, LCO/OTC began work on a new project in southern Armenia.  This year’s campaign brought 40 dedicated volunteers from the United States, France, Canada, Mexico, Russia, Armenia, and Artsakh to spend three-weeks in the Syunik region, rebuilding the 17thcentury historical Sourp Hovannes (St. John) church in Armenia’s southern most point of Meghri.  The Meghri restoration project will take four to five years to complete. During the campaign, workdays of physical labor participating in the renovation of this Armenian church is just one part of the LCO/OTC experience.  Volunteers live in a very modest rural home and spend non-working hours bonding with village residents, while enjoying local activities and their surroundings.  In addition to experiencing village life, the volunteers go on excursions of Armenian historical sites. 

A bomb has gone off at the Brussels Institute of Criminology, without causing casualties, Belgian media say, the BBC reports.

Shortly before 02:30 local time (00:30 GMT), a car rammed through three fences, RTL Belgium reports.

“One or more” suspects then reportedly detonated a bomb near the laboratories.

Belgium’s terror alert level remains high since bomb attacks on Brussels airport and the city’s metro, claimed by so-called Islamic State, that killed 32 people in March.

It is unclear what happened to the suspects behind the latest blast, which Belgian media said had caused “significant” damage.

Fire service spokesman Pierre Meys told Agence France-Presse that the “extremely powerful” blast “was probably not accidental”. Some 30 firefighters helped put out the resulting fire.

Prosecutors said an investigation was now under way.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan provided a fascinating glimpse of his quality on Saturday by producing an eye-catching first-half display during Manchester United’s 2-0 win at Wigan Athletic.

The Armenia international joined the Reds from Borussia Dortmund earlier this month and made his unofficial debut at the DW Stadium, where Jose Mourinho oversaw a comfortable victory in his first match as manager thanks to second-half goals from Will Keane and Andreas Pereira.

Mkhitaryan started the match in the number 10 position and impressed the 7,000 United fans in attendance with an energetic, creative performance behind striker Will Keane. The 27-year-old was taken off during the break in a planned substitution, yet he had already made his impact.

Speaking on MUTV during a live broadcast of the match, Denis Irwin explained why he was bowled over by Mourinho’s third signing of the summer. “When he is receiving the ball, he is always available, his body shape is always right and he let it run across him a couple of times,” Irwin said.

“He looks like a player who wants to go forward as well and carry the ball forward to the opposition. We know from last year at Dortmund alone what he can achieve in terms of scoring goals, creativity and assists.

“So it has all been good. I know people will say it is Wigan, but you can see his ability to take the ball under pressure. He is at a good age, he has good experience and you can see that.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama in a telephone conversation on Wednesday dicussed the settlement of the Krabakh conflict, TASS reports, quoting the Kremlin.

Putin informed Obama on the June 20 meeting in St Petersburg on peace settlement of the conflict.

Photo: BBC

 

British Prime Minister Tony Blair told U.S. President George W. Bush eight months before the 2003 invasion of Iraq “I will be with you, whatever”, and relied on flawed intelligence and legal advice to go to war, a seven-year inquiry concluded on Wednesday, reports.

It strongly criticized Blair on a range of issues, saying the threat posed by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s supposed weapons of mass destruction had been over-hyped and the planning for the aftermath of war had been inadequate.

Blair responded that he had taken the decision to go to war “in good faith”, that he still believed it was better to remove Saddam, and that he did not see that action as the cause of terrorism today, in the Middle East or elsewhere.

“The intelligence assessments made at the time of going to war turned out to be wrong. The aftermath turned out to be more hostile, protracted and bloody than ever we imagined,” the former prime minister told reporters.

“For all of this, I express more sorrow, regret and apology than you will ever know.”

The only Labour prime minister to win three general elections, Blair was in office for 10 years until 2007 and was hugely popular in his heyday, but Iraq has severely tarnished his reputation and legacy.

Responding to questions from journalists, Mr Blair says passionately while gesticulating with his arms that some people talk “as if I don’t care about the loss of life”, according to .

But he says: “I had to decide are more people going to suffer, are more people going to die if we leave this dictator in power.”

Asked whether he would apologise to the families of the British servicemen and women who lost their lives, Mr Blair says: “I can look the nation in the eye and say I did not mislead this country.. I made the decision in good faith on information I had at the time, and can say it is better we took the decision.”

 

 

 

German writer and historian Michael Hesemann has been studying the Armenian Genocide for over 20 years now.

The historian has studied more than 3000 pages of the Vatican Secrete Archives related to the Armenian Genocide. He says all archives are open, it’s only necessary to write a letter to get access to the Vatican Archives of the period of Benedict XV until 1939.

“What I found is a very drastic, very moving eyewitness reports from monks and priests who managed to escaped the genocide, managed to escape to Constantinople and reported about what happened to the Armenian Patriarchate and the Pope’s Apostolic delegate, the Representative of the Pope in Constantinople,” Hesemann told reporters in Yerevan.

“Besides, we have the documentation of the attempts to stop the killing, to stop the massacres, to stop the deportation by the Apostolic delegate and the Pope himself, who wrote hundreds of letters to the Sultan, which the Apostolic delegate tried to present to eth sultan, but never got an audience for weeks. Only with the help of the Austrian and German Ambassadors he got the access to the Sultan, and the latter responded to the letter with a great delay. When he replied in November 1915, the greatest part of the deportation had already happened, and the Armenians were already in the Syrian deserts to die,” the historian said.

“It is also a story of deceit, a story of how the Turks tried to deceit the Pope about what was going on. So the Archives clearly document what Pope Francis called in 1915 the first genocide of the 20^th century,”

Referring to the Turkish attempts to deny the Armenian Genocide, he said, all archives are open today, the Vatican , the American and German archives are open, and the only archives that remain partially closed are the Turkish ones.

According to him, all scholars in the world who have studied the archives will clearly say it was not only a genocide of Armenians, but also an extermination of the Christian element in the Ottoman Empire. It was a kind of ethnic or religious cleansing.

The Venice Commission at its meeting on 10-11 June in Venice has endorsed a on the draft electoral code of Armenia.

Executive summary is below:

11. The Venice Commission and OSCE/ODIHR have closely followed changes to the Electoral Code of Armenia through several opinions. The proposed draft electoral code follows the 2015 adoption of a revised Constitution. In line with previous Venice Commission and OSCE/ODIHR opinions and reports, it is underscored that the key challenge for the conduct of genuinely democratic elections is the exercise of political will by all stakeholders to fully and effectively uphold the letter and the spirit of the law. The timeframe for reform is regrettably very short, as the Constitution provides that the new code has to enter into force by 1 June 2016. While the stability of the electoral system is a key principle, it is equally important to have sufficient time for a thorough, inclusive, and public discussion in order to build consensus and confidence around major changes in electoral legislation.

12. The draft electoral code could provide an adequate basis for the conduct of democratic elections, and has addressed some prior Venice Commission and OSCE/ODIHR recommendations. For example, it introduces a system to improve voter identification, enhances the Central Electoral Commission regulatory powers, strengthens the quota for the participation of women as candidates, removes provisions that could lead to the arbitrary withdrawal of observer accreditation, and systematises the rules on campaigning.

13. However, significant concerns exist in the draft code, including with regard to insufficient measures to enhance confidence in the accuracy of voter lists, a lack of clarity as to how the introduction of new technologies may be implemented, and the restrictions on citizen election observers. The draft code also does not address a number of prior recommendations related to the effectiveness of complaints and appeals procedures, the transparency and accountability of campaign finance, safeguards against potential abuse of state resources, and clarity of the role and oversight of media during elections.

14. Mainly in order to address the constitutional requirement to guarantee a “stable majority”, the new electoral system proposed in the draft code is rather complex. It establishes a number of significant deviations from a purely proportional system, which in combination with the short time allocated to carry out the reform, may affect voters’ trust in the electoral system.

15. It is recommended to address the following key issues:
A. The draft code establishes limitations and deadlines for the formation of coalitions after the first round of elections. These provisions unduly limit the possibility of building a political coalition as a means for ensuring the “stable majority” required by the Constitution. It is recommended to reconsider restrictions on the number of participants in a coalition and extend the time period for formation of coalitions after the first round.

B. Concerns regarding the accuracy of voter lists and potential impersonation of voters de facto abroad underlie longstanding opposition and civil society calls to publish signed voter lists after election day. Publication of signed voters’ lists raises a number of concerns regarding privacy of information. The concerns expressed by civil society seem to have been at least partially addressed in the interim version of the draft code, through the possibility of accessing the list of voters who voted. Considering the importance of ensuring a balance between data protection and the secrecy of the vote on the one hand and stakeholders’ interest in consulting the signed voter lists on the other, it is recommended, as a confidence building measure, to allow meaningful consultation of signed voter lists by stakeholders under specific conditions.

C. The draft code envisages the introduction of new technologies in respect of voter registration and identification. It is welcome that voter registration and identification issues are addressed, but the proper implementation of new technologies has to be ensured. Particularly in light of the short time before the next elections and the need to build trust in the electoral process, it is recommended that a number of issues be thoroughly considered, including harmonising new provisions with existing data protection laws and standards, applying proper procedures for procurement, ensuring public testing and certification of the equipment, guaranteeing contingency planning, providing sufficient training for electoral staff, and ensuring effective awareness-raising among voters and political parties. A gradual approach to the introduction of such technologies through a series of pilots would be a measure to enhance confidence in the system and provide opportunities to address technical issues regarding effective implementation. Initial pilots could take place, for example, during the upcoming local elections.

16. Additional recommendations include:

D. The draft code establishes or maintains restrictions on citizen election observers which may impede their activity and undermine transparency of the electoral process. It is recommended to remove the mandatory testing and certification of citizen observers, as well as the requirement that the charters of citizen observer organisations be in force for the three years preceding the elections, as this would deprive new organisations of the possibility to observe elections.

E. The code should further guarantee the independence of the electoral administration, notably, by ensuring that presidential powers to nominate members of the Central Electoral Commission in case of a parliamentary stalemate are exercised in consultation with all parliamentary parties and by clarifying the procedure for the early termination of mandate.

F. While the draft code improves the previous gender quota for candidate lists, increasing it from 20 to 25 per cent within certain brackets of the list, the impact might be limited. It is recommended that the draft code provide for a still more effective quota for women’s representation, for example by placing women among every two or three candidates.

G. Particularly in light of the extensive changes to the electoral system, the draft code would benefit from simplifying and clarifying procedures for voting, counting and tabulation, as well as the determination of election results. This would also require extensive training for electoral staff and comprehensive voter education well in advance of elections to ensure better understanding of the process and enhanced public confidence.

H. Electoral reform requires broad and public discussion in order to encourage participation in the process and acceptance of the outcomes. Final amendments to the code should ensure meaningful engagement with all relevant stakeholders, so as to encourage broad agreement and support for the new code.

17. In this joint opinion, the Venice Commission and the OSCE/ODIHR have made recommendations to the authorities of the Republic of Armenia in support of their efforts to improve election-related legislation and bring it more closely in line with OSCE commitments and European and international standards. However, it must be emphasised that, in addition to further amendments to the legislative framework, an effective and impartial implementation of the law is necessary to ensure conduct of elections in line with international standards.